I just got my 430 rebuilt fro my 67 riv. Heres all the upgrades. I have a mild RV cam, lowered compresion to 8 (not sure about ratio but it begins with 8) to run pump gas headers stage 2 factory rebuilt 73 Qjet (not tuned very well) MSD Mallory distributor steel hardened everything performer manifold I just took it to the 1/8 and only got to run twice because they held me up saying i need a battery kill switch on the outside of my car. The first run was crapy because i lost traction and ran a 10.77. The second run felt good with no traction loss and i ran a 10.07. Aren't these times a little slow? I ran a 10.01 before the rebuild with only the msd for modifications. What should i be blaming for this? the compression ratio? the not very tuned carb? or should i not worry because 2 times arent bases for concern?
Well , lowering the compression certainly did not help you any. What the heck is a 73 stg-2 quadrajet carb? Jim Burek
the 73 is the year and the rebuild company calls it a stage 2 because they made some minor performance enhancments but im not quite sure what they are
Why on earth would you need a battery kill switch on the outside of your car running those times??? That's like requiring stock cars of today to have that before theyre allowed to run!
My thoughts exactly. Isnt the battery safer in the back than in the front switch or no? plus its one of the bullet proof gell battery. So your saying im running stock modern car times. Well **** whats wrong with my car then. With all the stuff ive done i expected a little better. Am i wrong? Would i get better times shifting manually?
Well, without knowing what kind of grind your cam is, it's hard to say. But, lowering the compression certainly didn't help.
My 69 Sport Wagon with a 430 bored to 455 and ~9:1 compression ran 8.8 seconds in the 1/8th mile, what kind of gears do you have? Yeah I would say tuning is the key to going faster...get the timing right, the plug gap set properly, and make sure everything tune up-wise is good to go (fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap/rotor, PCV valve, air filter) and then get the carb running right and you should have no problems beating your old times. Keep in mind the weather and track conditions have a lot to do with it also. Good luck with it! -Andy
It's a dumb rule if applied across the board. So an Audi with battery under the backseat would need a cutoff switch. But I guess it came that way so it's different....not re-located. You know antifreeze is illegal in ANY car at an NHRA strip. Are they going to enforce it in all stock street vehicles? Don't think so. You may need to bump the timing up to try to make up some for the low comp. But then you will spin more.... Bruce
Make sure your Q-jet secondaries are opening. We went from 8.8 in 1/8th to 8.0 when all 4 bbls are used.
From my experience with going slower than you expected, learn to tune the carb, and the timing, and make sure the converter is matched to the rest fo the engine, also, rear suspension upgrades help a lot, and find out what gear ratio you have in the rear, and i think you should be shifting aroun 5500 rpms. Also, what tranny to you have?
commpression makes alot of power. if you went from 10 to 1, to down in the 8's you could loose around 40 h/p and 50 ft/lbs touque. i have my battery mounted in the trunk, but it is hidden under the spare with no rim and the stock tire cover i made from sheet metal and srewed it to the tire, i have a display battery up front, so the tec guys dont have a clue. my car runs mid 12's and looks commpletly stock except for the wheel and tires, untill you open the hood, the tec guys ask if im running nitrous, i wounder what they will say if i hit the 11's this year?
Im not sure what the stock gear ratio is on my car and have had hard luck trying to find it but i have the original turbo 400. I put new springs and shocks in but the gabriels i have seem a little weak. Ive been looking at bilsteins sport shocks complemented with front and rear sway bars but id like an opinion from somone here before i jump in. I think im just going to get the carb tuned by a proffesional whos experienced with Qjets (which my mechanic is not, he put the vacuum advance on the wrong port and told me the carb was broken!). Id like to shift manually (ive heard its faster then letting the auto take over?) but i need a tach. Does anyone know of a brand o tach that is not to obtrusive and would look nice with black vynal and chrome.
Invest in the new G-Tech too. You may be familar with them. The new Pro model has a tach and shift light. Along with a g-force, speedometer and 60 to 0 braking times. Not to mention the 1/4 mile times and hp readings. I have not got to use my new Pro yet, but the old one worked great and was within a tenth most times at the local 1/4 track. Amazing little toy!!! Your car looks great too. Good luck.
ive been talking to a lot of people lately and everyone has pointed to the compression as teh problem and now ive heard i didnt need to lower the comp. to 8 to run pump gas but could have run 10 with supreme. I didnt know i could run regular wiht the compression either. My mechanic told me that it needed to be lowered to 8 and i would still have to run supreme. This is the last straw and i believe he's either an idiot or trying to take me for a ride. Anyway its the last time i go to him for awhile. After discussing many diffrent options with some freinds such as getting a 455 and building it up gradually, rebuilding it again with 10:1 pistons, STG 1 heads and cam, NOS... I've decided i think it would be best to get a B&M shift kit/transpack, a posi rear end that could handle more horses, and maybe a torq converter. Once Ive got it set up to handle it i think the cheapest thing to do that will take advantage and actually alow the headers and manifold to contribute their full hp potential is Stg 1 heads. Ive heard heads will allow the engine to take full advantage of the upgrades ive already invested in (headers and manifold) and will boost the compression back to the 10's (do the stg 1 heads from T/A accomplish this or do they need to be shaved?). Am i headed down the right path? Thanks for the info in the g-tech. I'm deffinitely interested but i was wondering if it could be mounted at an angle because i dont want it on the window id rather have lower to the right facing up. Will this affect the g-force reader?
Yeah it seems like you got off to a rough start with some bad advice. How exactly did they lower the compression? Also there should be a code on the underside of the right side of the axle (at least there is on my 76) then you can get that decoded on the net. I think this guy is taking you for a ride, time to find a new guy. Talk to people you trust about who they get to do thier work. Good luck and do more research !
Not sure on the mounting location of the G-Tech. I have only been around ones used on a windshield. Hate you had bad advice. Happens to us all. This board is now my knowledge before I attempt any engine work. Heads will help. Don't think you could boost compression up to the 10's with just heads, but I may be wrong. Good time to buy the alum. heads with the sale going on too. Even got me thinking.
I think i found the problem and anyone who sees this will probably get a laugh from my stupidity. I turns out i had completely lost a screw that holds my downpipe to my shorty headers leaving about a Half inch gap. Suprisingly it was not as loud as one might expect and the exhaust flowed freely and visably out the left tailpipe in the moring. For some reason it was gradual so i didnt notice it right away but apperantly it happened a while ago. Anyway i felt a Hp loss and could confirm it because i could no longer chirp the tires from a standstill with no brake play and i could after the rebuild. Anyway with that fixed it idles and sounds like a dream. I can deffinitely feel a low end power difference wich i attribute to the lack of backpressure or the fact that the right and left 4 cylinders werent flowing the same, throwing off everything. I thought the more free flowing the exhaust was the better but... guess not. Anyway im pretty happy now and cant wait to go back to the drags and get my real times. The car deffinitely has the Umph i was missing from the rebuild and then some (at least at the low end). I think ill hold off and just get my heads ported and shaved this summer.
